.... Mattatyahu and his sons fought a double war - not only against the Syrian Greeks, but against the 95% of the Jewish people who had become assimilated Hellenists. But because of his steadfast, unwavering and uncompromising commitment to Hashem, to his emuna, to the Torah and to his homeland, he was able to overcome all obstacles and instill the fire of emuna and total dedication in the hearts of his brave sons and daughter.

Where did he get his strength and courage from?

Nothing gives a person strength like clarification of the truth. A person who knows the truth and who lives according to the truth is as fierce as a lion. He is not willing to live a lie; so, if you take the truth away from him, he'll no longer regard his life as worth living. That's why our ancestors in every generation all the way back to our forefather Abraham were willing to sacrifice their last breath and heartbeat for our faith in Hashem and our Torah.

.... The Greeks gathered against me, in days of the Hasmoneans.They broke down the walls of my towers, And defiled all the oils. But from the last remaining flask A miracle was wrought for the Jews.

Therefore the sages of the day ordained These eight for songs of praise.

O bare Your holy arm, And hasten the time of salvation.
Wreak vengeance upon the wicked nation, On behalf of your faithful servants. For deliverance has too long been delayed; And the evil days are endless.O thrust the enemy into the shadows of death, And set up for us the seven Shepherds [who will deliver Israel from oppression]....

Israel’s ambassador to the United States noted Sunday that the Jewish state came to the administration “years ago” to warn “Bashar al-Assad is too reckless.”

President Obama, though, began his term by trying to establish ties with Damascus and sending the first U.S. ambassador since 2005, Robert Ford, to the region in January 2011. President Bush pulled America’s ambassador out in 2005 after the assassination of Lebanese politician Rafiq Hariri.

“We have long advocated for Bashar al-Assad’s departure, long before, actually the outbreak of hostilities,” Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren said this morning on Fox News Sunday.

“His father was, remember Hafez? He was reckless, but somehow predictable — reckless but somehow responsible. His son is reckless and irresponsible and ruthless,” Oren added.

“And he has provided 70,000 rockets to Hezbollah in Lebanon, tens of thousands of rockets to terrorists everywhere. He had tried to create a nuclear facility, secretly. Hafez al-Assad probably would have never done something like that.”

“.... If he goes now, we would view that as a positive development. He’s an ally of Iran. He’s an ally of Hezbollah. We understand that if jihadists were to come in, it wouldn’t be good. But, it perhaps wouldn’t be as bad as the current situation,” the ambassador said.